BEIRUT, April 27, 2012 (AFP) – Tens of thousands of anti-regime demonstrators took to the streets across Syria on Friday demanding the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, a monitoring group said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three people, including a child, were killed as regime forces opened fire on protesters.
’Tens of thousands of people protested today in various areas of the country,’ Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based group, told AFP.
He said one protester was killed in the village of Daf al-Shok, in Damascus province.
Another died and three others were wounded when regime forces opened fire on protesters in the Sakhur neighbourhood of northern Aleppo, Syria’s second city.
The child was killed in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, also in gunfire by regime forces seeking to disperse demonstrators, the Observatory said.
The protests came amid ongoing violence that has sorely tested a faltering peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
Despite a ceasefire in place since April 12, more than 300 people have reportedly been killed in the past two weeks.
’Demonstrators turned out in various neighbourhoods of Aleppo and called for the ouster of the regime,’ the Observatory said.
It said protests were also held in other towns in Aleppo province where some braved gunfire by regime forces, as shown in amateur video posted by activists on YouTube.
An activist in Aleppo reached by AFP via Skype said demonstrators in various neighbourhoods of the city ’faced gunfire, teargas, and arbitrary arrests.’
Demonstrators also turned out in various other regions, including the central city of Hama, where more than 100 people have been reported killed by regime forces since Monday.
Syrian authorities have blamed the violence on ’armed terrorist groups’, referring to rebels seeking the collapse of Assad’s regime.
The Observatory said three security forces were killed in Aleppo on Friday by armed men who raked their vehicle with bullets.
A rebel was also killed overnight during clashes in the central city of Homs.
The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have died since a revolt erupted against the regime in March last year, while non-government groups put the figure at more than 11,100.